to its relations with the united states. that is often married to some criticism of the effectiveness joint report.s. what is your response to the question principle about if we take a strategic approach? secondly, how do you assess the performance of the strategy board, which i think was created on your watch? >> thank you. i think, first of all, this is a difficult issue, because of course in the u.k.-u.s. relationship as this committee knows is a huge relationship or it is very difficult to easily, briefly summarize it. elements of the foreign office. it covers significant chunks of activity in the rest of government. it is sometimes quite difficult to capture it in a strategic item. i think successive governments, looking back over the last years or so, the three governments of that. have tried to think about the and havehip as a whole certainly tried, if you're looking at the middle east or the subcontinent or asian- pacific, have looked at the u.k.-u.s. role going forward as a. of years, not just the date today. i thin